Evolutionary pressures adapted insect chemosensation to the respective insect’s physiological needs and tasks in their ecological niches. Solitary nocturnal moths rely on their acute olfactory sense to find mates at night. Pheromones are detected with maximized sensitivity and high temporal resolution through mechanisms that are mostly unknown. While the inverse topology of insect olfactory receptors and heteromerization with the coreceptor Orco suggest ionotropic transduction via odorant-gated receptor-ion channel complexes, contradictory data propose amplifying G protein-coupled transduction. Here, we used in vivo tip-recordings of pheromone-sensitive sensilla of male Manduca sexta hawkmoths at specific times of day (rest vs. activity). Since the olfactory receptor neurons distinguish signal parameters in three consecutive temporal windows of their pheromone response (phasic; tonic; late, long-lasting), respective response parameters were analyzed separately. Disruption of G protein-coupled transduction ...

Hearing impairment (HI) disrupts social interaction by hindering the ability to follow conversations in noisy environments. While hearing aids (HAs) with noise reduction (NR) partially address this, the “cocktailparty problem” persists, where individuals struggle to attend to specific voices amidst background noise. This study investigated how NR and an advanced signal processing method for compensating for nonlinearities in EEG signals can improve neural speech processing in HI listeners. Participants wore hearing aids with NR, either activated or deactivated, while focusing on target speech amidst competing masker speech and background noise. Analysis focused on temporal response functions to assess neural tracking of relevant target and masker speech. Results revealed enhanced neural responses (N1 and P2) to target speech, particularly in frontal and central scalp regions, when NR was activated. Additionally, a novel method compensated for nonlinearities in EEG data, leading to improved signal-to-noise ...

In an age when misinformation and ideological echo chambers continue to work against scientists, it is more important than ever to engage non-scientists and educate them on the what, why, and how of our research.

What are the ethical implications of therapeutically re-exposing patients to trauma via virtual reality technologies? Of the 2.7 million American veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, at least 20 percent suffer from depression and/or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other studies peg that percentage even higher.

Neurons of the adult central nervous system (CNS) are often incapable of regenerating their long processes (axons).

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course, Distinct Molecular Programs Define Human Radial Glia Subtypes During Human Cortical Development, by Tomasz J. Nowakowski, PhD, and Alex A. Pollen, PhD. Short Courses are day-long scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held just prior to SfN’s annual meeting.

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course, Interpreting Human Genetic Variation With In Vivo Zebrafish Assays, Erica E. Davis, PhD, Stephan Frangakis, BS, and Nicholas Katsanis, PhD. Short Courses are day-long scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held just prior to SfN’s annual meeting.

Extended performance of cognitively demanding tasks induces cognitive fatigue manifested with an overall deterioration of behavioral performance. In particular, long practice with tasks requiring impulse control is typically followed by a decrease in self-control efficiency, leading to performance instability. Here, we show that this is due to changes in activation modalities of key task-related areas occurring if these areas previously underwent intensive use. We investigated in 25 healthy adults the effects of extended practice with high cognitive demand (HCD) tasks on a Go-No Go task and the underlying electroencephalographic (EEG) activity. We compared these effects with those induced by practice with similar, but low cognitive demand (LCD) tasks. HCD tasks were followed by an increase in response inhibition failures. These were correlated with the appearance of a distinct neural signature on fast response trials, characterized by lower levels of beta ([13-30] Hz) EEG activity in the pre-stimulus perio...

Axons in the mammalian brain show significant diversity in myelination motifs, displaying spatial heterogeneity in sheathing along individual axons and across brain regions. However, its impact on neural signaling and susceptibility to injury remains poorly understood. To address this, we leveraged cable theory and developed model axons replicating the myelin sheath distributions observed experimentally in different regions of the mouse central nervous system. We examined how the spatial arrangement of myelin affects propagation and predisposition to conduction failure in axons with cortical versus callosal myelination motifs. Our results indicate that regional differences inmyelination significantly influence conduction timing and signaling reliability. Sensitivity of action potential propagation to the specific positioning, lengths, and ordering of myelinated and exposed segments reveals non-linear and path-dependent conduction. Furthermore, myelination motifs impact signaling vulnerability to demyelinat...

The prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship is awarded to undergraduate sophomores and juniors planning on research careers in natural sciences, mathematics, or engineering.